A pregnant woman was sacked by the charity fundraising company she worked for after her manager told her to have an abortion and she refused.

Teri Cumlin, 22, was left in tears when her boss Mark Robertson tried to pressure her into terminating her pregnancy.

After she told him that she was expecting her second child, he said that her life was 'down the pan', and she was subsequently sacked from her job at Engage Fundraising.

The company, which raises money for a variety of charities, has now been found guilty of unfair dismissal and ordered to pay Ms Cumlin £12,000 in compensation.

Case: Teri Cumlin, left, was told to have an abortion by her manager Mark Robertson, right

The young mother from the Maryhill district of Glasgow, whose son Thomas is now four months old, said: 'I was left with nothing. I had no money, I was worrying about losing my house. It was such a horrible time.

'I had a wee girl and a baby on the way and he knew that and yet he still still did what he did.

'He said to me, "Do you want to be that girl from Maryhill with babies to different dads?", and then it was, "If you want a career than I'd advise you to terminate your baby."

'I said, "I'm not going to have a termination." I explained that I had had a stillborn previously and there was no way I was having an abortion.

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'I was crying in the street and he told me I was making myself cry. He said it was all my fault. I'm pleased with the judgment, but the whole thing has just been so stressful.'

The tribunal, whose judgment was released last week after the hearing in May, heard that Ms Cumlin told Mr Robertson she was pregnant in July last year.

She said: 'He started shouting in my face, telling me how stupid I was and that they wouldn't be able to keep me on. It was awful.

'He drove me and another worker home at the end of our shift and kept saying, "That's Teri's life down the pan, Teri's life is over now."'

Compensation: Ms Cumlin has now won her case for unfair dismissal against Engage Fundraising

Ms Cumlin said that on another occasion she was feeling ill on a hot day and asked to stand in the shade, but was refused.

Mr Robertson also criticised her for taking too many toilet breaks and asked her not to drink so much, the tribunal heard.

The manager also regularly sent her home without pay saying she was unfit to work, and told her to attend for shifts later than her colleagues so he could criticise her for being late in front of them.

Ms Cumlin, who was also demoted from her post as team leader due to her pregnancy, eventually complained to head office about the manager's conduct but no steps were taken to address it.

In December last year she was suspended amid claims of misconduct, and a week later was sacked. Employment judge Robert Gall said he 'regarded the dismissal as an act of discrimination'.

Ms Cumlin, who also has a four-year-old daughter called Tierney, suffered high blood pressure during her pregnancy and went on to have an emergency caesarean section one month early in February this year. Thomas was in intensive care for a week after his birth.

She added: 'When my baby was in intensive care I kept thinking about what he had said to me. I was so angry. I just kept thinking, "My poor wee baby's not well." I kept thinking, "How could he have told me to have a termination?"

'Thomas is doing really well now, but it took me a while to bond with him. I was worrying about money, I was worrying about my house, instead of just focusing on my baby.'

Lawyer Agnes Maxwell-Ferguson, of EMC Solicitors, who represented Ms Cumlin, said it was 'staggering' that a charitable organisation had demonstrated such an 'old-fashioned Victorian attitude'.

She added: 'We hope this case highlights to employers this attitude towards pregnant workers cannot be tolerated in the current workplace.'

Engage did not defend itself at the tribunal hearing, and now plans to appeal against the judgment.